Most disappointing destination/holiday

[Forgottenmyphone]

For me, it was the Norwegian fjords. Not because they weren’t beautiful (what we saw of them, they were!) but because it was cold, rainy and foggy when we went. One town known for being very pretty was ridiculously busy and there was a cruise ship blocking the view from the restaurant we booked. We knew the prices were going to be high, but expected good quality… when you pay over £100 for a train ticket, you expect there to be toilet roll and soap in the toilets!

where have you been that was disappointing?

I know someone who went to Rome at Easter, didn’t book or plan anything in advance and then complained how they couldn’t get anywhere 😳😆

You also need to find neighbourhoods in London. It's really a collection of villages; places like Leicester Square are not (obviously) where people live or where a lot of Londoners spend time, so they do feel a bit soulless.

Madrid. The art museums were amazing but the locals were quite hostile.

A Canadian friend recently holidayed in Amsterdam. We were somewhat surprised when she told us she was day-tripping to Brussels. I don’t recall her as being a fan of grey-suited EU administrative infrastructure or jurisdiction, but hey.

Turns out she had a lovely day in Bruges.

@Fordian Madrilenians aren't hostile but their mannerisms could appear as if they were.

@Fordian have you actually ever visited Brussels?
I spent a long weekend there acouple of years ago. It was buzzing and characterful. There were lots of beautiful historic buildings, galleries, parks, the Atomium... and Le Mannequin Pis!

EU infrastructure and jurisdiction are not particularly in your face and I don't recall many grey suits.

I’d tend to agree. A mate owns a small holiday cottage near Lannion that she generously lets us use, so we self-cater. In 10 days I think we ate out (as in ‘sit-down’) probably twice. Food was fine but expensive. However, the supermarkets are superb; again, top-end treats were expensive, but regular food was fine, though chicken and beef mince are weirdly rare and expensive! We bought pork and seafood instead.

Last 2 times we went before most recently, last month, was 12-14 years ago. The locals have definitely become friendlier!

Interestingly, there were way fewer Turks in Berlin than I was expecting! But yes, the Turkish food was good. We were there a few months ago. I’m quite familiar with southern Germany, but Berlin was a first. We were there for 6 days and we walked miles, so interesting. They do not shy away from their history. Only criticism was a surprising lack of cafes and WCs!

DH goes for work. He laughed at the idea of choosing Brussels over Bruges if you’ve just flown in from Calgary. 😁

I found people in Madrid pretty friendly, hospitable and helpful. I tend to find that in Spain generally.

@LittleBitofBread I find in any big city people are getting on about their lives and doing their jobs, they aren’t necessarily in your face sociable and friendly - i get this particularly with American tourists in Bath where I live who seem to want to use me as a free chummy tour guide for inordinate long conversations - actually expect me to physically walk to places etc -

Madrid is fab - beautiful interesting city. Great bar and cafe life .

All of these are reminding me why I never go abroad any more! Give me the Northumberland or Yorkshire coast any day!

I'd be interested in a thread on this, perhaps hidden away somewhere appropriate?

I love your turn of phrase. This sentence is a work of art:

This is a terrible century for time-blind, anti-regimented dipsticks like me.

Now you see I went to the Northumberland coast based on photos on a FB group dedicated to it but was so disappointed by what I saw compared to parts of Scotland. It is very strung out distance wise . The Lake District is also a watered down version of Scotland . 😂

I've been in Madrid twice this year. The people I talked to in my pidgin Spanish were generally polite and friendly, certainly as much as you'd expect in any big city where people are going about their daily lives. The only hostile vibe I got was from one of the guys on reception in the Lazaro Galdiano museum who just seemed to exude annoyance.

@GarlicMetre -- seeing the youth go off interrailing now, it's one of the biggest differences from when I did it in the early 90s. Pre-mobiles, pre-internet etc, so you just had a paper copy of the Thomas Cook timetable, paper maps and possibly a few phone numbers of vague acquaintances you'd once met who said you could stay with them if you were passing through Paris, or someone who'd said on a train that there was a circus tent you could sleep in in Munich.

Now I think everyone pre-books accommodation, train seats, museums etc way ahead of time, and can have money sent to them in emergencies. Which in some ways is obviously a good thing, as they won't end up sleeping on a beach in Italy like we did, or almost starving, but it does remove a bit of the 'Let's go to Poland tomorrow!' spontaneity.

Really? I went last year and had an amazing time… the most beautiful beaches/sea and fantastic food, where did you go?

I disagree with a lot of these though for example I also really enjoyed Barcelona!

Did you go to Kreuzberg though?

We went to Rome at Easter and didn't book anything in advance. Granted, we couldn't have got into the Colosseum but we didn't want to anyway (sniff).

The only thing that caught me out was the Pantheon- last time I'd gone you could just walk in, it being a church, and I'd assumed that you still could, but it turned out that they'd just introduced pre booking for busy days :(.

We could have just walked in to the Forum, but DS1 "didn't want to look at a pile of old stones" 🙄.

We did just walk into San Clemente.

Not necessarily everything, but if you want to visit somewhere at a time when lots of other people are liable to be interested in it then yes.

I think it's an inevitable consequence of mass travel access combined with social media for more popular venues like the Sagrada Familia, and lots of places not being able to staff themselves sufficiently to be otherwise in things like free swimming hours. Not much to be done about the latter, but you can perhaps insulate yourself from some of the former if you go more off the beaten track/at less popular times.

I went to Madrid recently, first time I'd been in Spain actually.
Everyone I met was very friendly and helpful. I definitely want to go back and explore more of Spain now.

@crackofdoom ha ha- that’s really mini Turkey- great swimming pool too - one of my favourite bits of Berlin

I cannot remember the name of the resort, it's been more than 10 years ago.
Never seen the fantastic beaches, there was nowhere to shop for food and as the resort gave so little, I used to pinch a couple of hard boiled eggs at breakfast. 😕

Oh fair enough, sounds grim. I wouldn’t stay in a resort hotel in Italy to be fair, I don’t think it’s really the place for it. But I visited Tropea, Scilla and Pizzo and they were all stunning.

Niagara Falls. Tack city. Vegas a close second

@onehorserace , maybe you should have planned your visit and not base it on social media.
Watered down versions of Scotland my arse.